


Aura Malfoy

by Gervas1981



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2019-09-07 09:44:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gervas1981/pseuds/Gervas1981
Summary: There are many secrets behind the events of the First Wizarding War. And usually, it is the children of the next generation who suffer for it. Aura Malfoy was accused of being a Death Eater and betraying the Order of the Phoenix. There are few who know the true events of what happened during the War. Now the truth will come out.





	1. Chapter One

Aura Malfoy was not an ordinary woman. She was a witch; an exceptional witch. She had once fought with the fierceness of a lioness, and the cunning of a fox. She could stun an opponent in a second without the slightest incantation or change in facial feature. Magic came very easily to her. Even at a young age, anyone who met her knew she would be extraordinary one day. She bested her older brother Lucius, even when she was at her worst.

Yet now she hid away in a small country cottage, rarely venturing out. Almost no one she knew in her youth knew whether she was alive or not, though to be fair, not many of the people she knew in her youth were alive either. There was only one person on the face of the Earth that knew where she lived. So when the alarm of her Intruder Charm was set off one sunny July afternoon, Aura knew the day she dreaded most had come.

She had been sitting in a plush armchair in front of the large picture window in the front sitting room of her little English cottage. She had been reading the morning's edition of The Daily Prophet, England's most-read magical newspaper, which came to her under the name of Cordelia Darkmore, and listening to her favourite singer Celestina Warbeck, glancing up every few seconds to make sure her 11-year-old daughter was still playing in the yard. She never let her daughter out of her sight.

When the shrill cry of the Intruder Charm sounded Aura jumped out of her chair with the same agility she'd had so many years ago and silenced it quickly. Immediately crossing the room to the front door, she called for her daughter to come into the house.

"Felis, go into your room, lock the door, and don't come out unless I say, do you understand?"

The little girl nodded and ran into the hallway. The sound of her door slamming came moments later. Aura paced the room anxiously as she waited for the visitor to make their way up the wooded path that led to the front door. Turning towards a mirror in the wall, she smoothed her hands down her long black robes and patted down her hair.

Aura always exuded poise and elegance. She had been raised to always appear at her best, and that had stuck with her even after she had forsaken her family. As she looked at herself in the mirror she couldn't help but stare at the large reminder on her face of times she wished she could forget.

_"Tell me where the Order's headquarters are," his voice hissed as he circled around her in the dark, black room. Several people wearing masks stood around, watching._

_He waited only a matter of seconds before growling in anger. He flicked his wand and recited, "Crucio."_

Aura flinched at the memory of the pain that had come next. She would have given almost anything to remove the great ugly scar from her face and forget the feeling of when it had been put there. Most of all she wished she could forget the sound of Him laughing as it was done.

Finally there came a soft knock at the door. Aura turned, held up her wand as sparks flew from the tip, and the door slowly opened to reveal a skinny old man, with long hair and beard as white as snow, wearing long flowing velvet robes of deep burgundy. He smiled amusingly and looked at Aura over the top of his half-moon spectacles.

"It's good to see you too, Aura." Dumbledore said pleasantly as he stepped over the threshold and held his hands out to Aura, as if she hadn't just been pointing her wand at him.

She placed her hands in his and embraced him warmly. Dumbledore had been something of a father to her after she had left her family at sixteen. He had helped her find this little cottage in the middle of nowhere and had added every protection possible. He followed her into the sitting room and they each took seats on the settee. He picked up the copy of the Daily Prophet curiously.

"Cordelia Darkmore," he noted with a chuckle.

"Brandy?" Aura offered, as two large glasses of golden liquid came floating in from the adjacent room.

"Thank you, my dear. Now-"

"I know," Aura interrupted, "she's old enough. She has to go. I can't keep her from living."

"Actually, I was going to ask how _you've_ been." Dumbledore smiled, "After all, ten years is a long time."

Aura's composure faltered and she took a sip of her brandy, "I don't think about myself anymore, Albus. It hurts too much."

"I know I taught you to close your mind, Aura, but don't hide from yourself. No good ever comes of that."

"The only thing I care about any more is keeping her safe. There's nothing else to think about. The man I loved betrayed me, and all my friends are dead."

Dumbledore sighed deeply, "They're not _all_ dead, and there are more friends to be made, and plenty more men out there."

"Oh yes, every one of them'd love to look at _this_ every day," she scoffed and pointed to the scar on her face.

"I would."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means, that I am offering you a position at Hogwarts, as a nurse in the Hospital Wing."

"Why ever would you do that?"

"If memory serves me correctly, you mended quite a few wounds in your time at Hogwarts, and Hippocrates Smethwyck thought extremely highly of you during your Healer training."

"You'd trust me out there? I'm almost as mad as Alastor."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, and you'll be able to keep an eye on Felis, although I assure you, she'll be as safe as can possibly be."

Aura stared at the wall behind Dumbledore's head. She wasn't sure she could leave the safety of her cottage. There were so many dangers out there in the real world. And yet, she knew she couldn't let Felis go alone.

"You do know who is at Hogwarts, don't you?" Dumbledore asked as he peered over the top of his spectacles, "He has his mother's eyes."

Aura's heart gave a lurch. Harry.

"All right."

"Wonderful!" Dumbledore exclaimed, "Now, I must see her before I leave. I have to admit I'm very curious to see the little dear."

Aura waved her wand and the sound of a door opening could be heard from the back of the house. Small footsteps tapped their way to the front. The tapping stopped just at the end of the hall, the first thing to appear was a mass of wavy, black hair which stood at all ends. Next came two large, blue eyes. The little girl gave a gasp and then ran into the sitting room, skidding to a halt very close to Dumbledore's feet.

"You're Dumbledore!" she exclaimed.

Dumbledore chuckled, his eyes disappearing as he smiled, "That I am. I see your mother has mentioned me."

"She says you're the greatest wizard there ever was!"

Aura's cheeks turned a deep shade of scarlet as Dumbledore moved his gaze towards her, "Well, your mother is one of the best I've ever seen come through Hogwarts."

"Am I going to Hogwarts, mummy?" the little girl asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Yes, my dear, you are."

As she watched her daughter talk excitedly with Dumbledore, she thought about what it would be like to return to Hogwarts after so long, and roam the familiar halls; return to the one place that had always held comfort and safety for her. And Harry was there. She never had the chance to meet him, having been captured before he was born. She was utterly terrified.

-X-X-X-

"Hold on to my hand, Felis. Tight, yes just like that," Aura and Felis stood in the centre of the sitting room, wearing long, black traveling cloaks. Felis clutched onto her mother's hand nervously.

"Now close your eyes, this may make you dizzy."

Aura closed her eyes tight and Felis followed suit, her face scrunching up as she did so. Their ears filled with the sound of a loud crack, and Felis felt as if she were being pulled through a tight hole and then thrown back on to her feet. She could now hear people talking and walking not far from where she stood.

"Open your eyes now, dear."

Felis opened her eyes and gasped. She was standing at the end of an alley, looking into a busy street, muggles walking in every direction. Her mother began to pull her down the street, heading towards a small tavern. No one else seemed to notice the run-down looking pub. Aura headed straight for the door and pushed Felis through before she followed. Heads turned towards them as they entered. The room had gone silent as every head turned to stare at them. Aura seemed not to notice as she led Felis straight through to the back of the pub where they stood in front of a brick wall.

Felis stared at it, wondering whether her mother had gone mad. Aura took out her wand, tapped one of the bricks and suddenly the bricks began to move as first a hole appeared, gradually getting bigger and bigger until a large archway stood where the brick wall once did. Felis and Aura both gasped at the sight of the extremely busy street as wizards and witches both young and old talked and shouted and bustled up and down the street, glancing into shop windows.

 _There's too many people,_ Aura thought, feeling her heart pounding in her chest, _It's too dangerous._

She didn't have time enough to hesitate, however, as Felis began to pull her into the crowd, staring excitedly into the shop windows. Aura stared all around her. Many witches and wizards were now looking at her curiously, muttering to each other. Her chest tightened in fear.

"Mummy, what do we do first? Can we go in the joke shop?" Felis asked excitedly, completely unaware of the turmoil going on in her mother's head.

Regaining her usual composure, Aura forced a smile and shook her head and took a deep breath, "We won't be able to get anything until we go to Gringotts. This way."

Aura pulled Felis along down the street, Felis attempting to get a peek into more shop windows. Her attention was brought back as they approached the white steps that led into the extremely large and intimidating looking building. Slanted columns stood on either side of the door. Felis couldn't help but stare at the goblin, who was around the same height as her, wearing a scarlet and gold uniform as they entered, he was the ugliest thing she’d ever seen. She also couldn't help but notice that the goblin stared curiously at her mother, similar to the people in the pub. They walked through the entrance and into a vast marble hall. On either side of them were long, shining counters, hundreds of goblins standing behind them. Aura approached one of the counters and looked up at the goblin confidently.

"I would like access to my vault, please."

The goblin looked at her in surprise, "Aura Bl-"

"Malfoy," she interrupted quickly, "Aura Malfoy. And please add my daughter Felis to the account as well."

The goblin stared for a moment, then nodded, "Griphook! Take them down to vault 711."

Aura and Felis followed the new goblin called Griphook down to the end of the hall and through a door that led into a narrow stone passageway, lit with flaming torches. It looked nothing like the great hall they'd just come from. Aura stood stock still, back straight as Griphook whistled and a cart came hurtling towards them on a rail track. Aura helped Felis into the cart after the goblin, and then climbed in behind her. Once they were settled the cart took off, speeding through a maze of rail tracks and vaults. They were going much too fast for Felis to get a good look at any of the vaults but she was pretty sure they had gone quite deep underground.

Finally the cart began to slow and they came to a stop in front of a large iron door wedged into the stone wall. Griphook climbed out of the cart, and Aura and Felis followed. Aura handed Griphook her key and when he turned it in the lock, the door opened with a loud clang. The door opened to reveal mountains of gold, silver, and bronze as well as other very old looking objects that must have been passed down for centuries.

"This is _ours_?" Felis exclaimed.

"Yes," Aura said hesitantly, then turned abruptly to Griphook, "There's too much in here, where did the excess come from?"

Griphook looked at her for a moment before clearing his throat, "Your half of your inheritance was added to the vault a few years ago, as instructed by your brother."

Aura's heart gave a strange lurch. She hadn't been very fond of her father, but it still hurt to hear that he was dead, "I see."

She turned back towards the vault and began to collect the various coins in to her purse. Felis slid down a hill of coins beside her mother, giggling to herself.

"Mummy, what's this?" Felis exclaimed as she held up a large diamond ring on a gold band.

Once again Aura's heart lurched at the sight of her wedding ring.

"It's beautiful!"

"Leave it alone, it's nothing."

Felis turned at the sound of her mother's voice. She'd never heard it so angry before. She gave the ring one last curious glance before letting it fall back on to the pedestal. Maybe it had something to do with her father. To this day, her mother would not speak of him, wouldn't even tell her what colour his eyes were, never mind his name. She shuffled out of the vault, waiting for her mother to finish inside.

-X-X-X-

Felis entered Ollivander's wand shop after her mother. The shop was dark and dusty, with piles and piles of long thin boxes scattered all over. She jumped as a thin man with white, wiry hair sticking up at all ends suddenly poked his head out from behind a large bookcase. He smiled widely and came to greet them at the counter.

"Aura Malfoy!" he cheered, "Oh, Ebony and phoenix feather, 11 1/2 inches."

"Yes," Aura smiled, "My daughter Felis is needing her first wand, now."

Mr. Ollivander's smile faltered slightly as he glanced at Felis, then he stepped around the corner and took out a tape measure which began to take her measurements of its own accord as Mr. Ollivander noted each one. After a few minutes he bounded away through the shelves and came back with a long silver box. Inside was a thin, delicate looking wand of a dark brown colour.

"10-inch vine with dragon heartstring. Give that a whirl."

Felis flicked her wrist slightly but nothing shot out of the wand at all. Ollivander went streaking through the shelves again and came back with a velvet box. The wand inside was quite long and almost pure white.

"Aspen and phoenix feather, 13 inches."

Again, the wand did nothing spectacular as Felis took hold of it. Several different wands later, Felis was beginning to think that she would never get a wand when Mr. Ollivander came back with a sad smile on his face. He glanced at Aura apologetically before setting the simple black box in front of them. Felis opened the box to reveal a long, thin, perfectly straight and unblemished, cream-coloured wand. As she took hold of it her hand immediately warmed and the tip of the wand emitted a soft golden glow.

"Yew," Ollivander sighed, "with dragon heartstring, 12 1/2 inches. There's no doubt, you could do great things with this wand."

Aura grew cold as her daughter held on to the wand. She wasn't sure how to feel. Yew was the same wood as the greatest dark wizard there ever was. And on the other hand, dragon heartstring was the same core usually found in the wands of her husband's family, a man who'd betrayed her for the darkest wizard there ever was.

Next, Aura took Felis to Magical Menagerie to look for a suitable companion for her. The shop seemed smaller than it really was as the walls were completely lined with cages of various types of animals. Aura watched as Felis looked inside each and every cage, asking every so often what type of animals they were. At one of the cages Felis stopped and stared for a lengthy minute, Aura was preparing to peek inside in order to be able to tell what animal it was when Felis squealed with joy.

"She's perfect!"

Felis opened the cage hurriedly and a small, black bundle of fur came hurtling out. Felis juggled the animal in her arms until she could hold it up to show her mother. Aura beamed with happiness at the sight of the small black cat, purring loudly in her daughter's arms.

"Yes, she is perfect, what are you going to name her?" she asked as she paid the witch for the cat.

"Panthera! Cause I'm sure in her heart she's a giant panther," Felis giggled.


	2. Chapter Two

Aura squeezed through the crowd in to Flourish and Blotts, Felis trailing behind her. Unfortunately that day the bookshop was playing host to someone that Aura had known when she'd been at Hogwarts, someone that she hadn't been fond of.

The extremely blond, and infuriating, man stood at the back of the shop, flashing his award-winning smile. Aura attempted to ignore it all as she headed for the shelves in order to gather the rest of the books on the list that _weren't_ Lockhart's. Apparently the new Defense teacher had a crush.

"It can't be Harry Potter?" Lockhart shouted suddenly.

Aura spun around just in time to see a small, thin boy covered in soot pushed up and grabbed by Lockhart, his eyes wide with surprise. Aura couldn't help but notice that his eyes, even through his circular glasses were exactly like his mother's. Everything else about him was so like his father Aura almost felt as if she were looking at James again.

Lockhart posed and smiled as Harry continued to stand there, looking none too pleased with having a camera in his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen,” he called out again, waving the building into silence. “What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I’ve been sitting on for some time! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography, which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge," he paused to grin and give the crowd a chance to clap, "He had no idea that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy!”

Aura had to shake her head, wondering whether she had heard correctly. Gilderoy Lockhart was going to be the DADA teacher at Hogwarts? What the hell was Albus playing at? He bloody well knew that Lockhart’s books were all a fiction, he’d been a very poor student when he’d been at Hogwarts, and was likely to be an even poorer teacher.

Gilderoy handed Harry a stack of shiny new books, which he took begrudgingly before he was shoved back in to the crowd. Aura lost sight of him for a moment before he reappeared at the front of the store, next to a little girl with red hair and a cauldron. She nudged Felis forward, slowly making their way through the crowds who were now lining up to have their books signed by Lockhart.

When Aura looked up again she caught sight of a man who haunted her nightmares, her brother Lucius. He stood in front of Harry, a blond boy with a surly look n his face at his hip. That must be his son Draco. The two of them were staring down their straight noses at Harry, now flanked by a group of other children. Aura stood still, her heart pounding in her chest.

"You must be Miss Granger. Draco's told me all about you, and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?"

Lucius sounded exactly the same; still as insolent and boastful as always. Another man approached the group. This one was rather meager-looking compared to Lucius' long combed hair and clean, crisp robes.

"Children, it's mad in here. Let's go outside," he said, no doubt hoping to stop the situation.

"Well, well, well, Arthur Weasley."

"Lucius," Arthur Weasley said stiffly, yet politely.

"Busy time at the Ministry. All those raids. I hope they're paying you overtime," he said as he grabbed an old tattered book from the red haired girl's cauldron, "Obviously not. Dear me. What's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it."

"We have a very different idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, Lucius."

"Clearly. The company you keep, Weasley. And I thought your family could sink no lower."

Aura took a deep, calming breath before approaching the group, "I see some things never change, big brother."

Lucius spun around quickly to find his younger sister watching him. He flinched at the sight of her face.

"Still can't look at your handiwork, can you?" she smirked.

"Aura!" Lucius exclaimed, his demeanor falling for a moment.

"Thank you for letting me know that our father died."

"You were impossible to find."

"You knew how to get a hold of me. Why don’t you go ruin someone else’s day?"

Lucius snarled and turned back towards the Weasley's, "Here girl, it's the best your father can give you."

Without another glance Lucius turned and stalked out of the shop, his young son Draco fast behind him.

"Well, Aura Malfoy," Arthur Weasley greeted, "We all thought you were dead."

"Yes, well, for a time, so did I."

"'Scuse me," young Harry said politely, yet disbelievingly, "But are you Lucius Malfoy's _sister_?"

"Yes Harry, unfortunately I am."

"How do you know my name?"

"My dear boy, everyone knows your name."

-X-X-X-

Later that evening Aura and Felis were sitting down to a supper of yorkshire pudding and chips in their little country cottage. After the bookshop Aura had rushed Felis through the rest of the list and taken her straight home. It had been a very long time since she'd been out in public and the stress was clear on her face. Of course Felis hadn't noticed this and was still extremely excited about her first trip away from the cottage.

"Mummy, who was that boy in the bookshop?" she asked as she took a bite of a chip.

"Which one?" Aura sighed impatiently.

"The dirty one with the glasses."

"That was Harry Potter, dear."

"Who is he?"

"He is The Boy Who Lived. Long ago there was a very bad wizard who wanted to kill Harry. His mother died in order to save him."

"That's sad. Did you know her?"

Aura thought back to that day on the train when she'd met the little girl with large green eyes and bright red hair, "Yes I did."

"So he doesn't have a mother?" Felis said, looking down at her plate.

"Nor a father."

"That's very sad. He could probably use a friend."

Aura smiled weakly and patted her daughter's head, "Yes dear, I'm sure he could."

"And that tall scary man is your brother?"

"Unfortunately yes. And that was his son Draco. Don't listen to a word he says, if he’s anything like his father he won’t be a nice boy."

"Did your brother give you that scar?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Aura sighed and looked at her daughter who had gravy running down her chin, still so innocent and curious, "You're far too young to hear that story."

"Yes mum," Felis looked down at her plate, disappointed.

"One day, I promise."

Aura stood from the table, picked up the empty plates and took them over to the sink. Felis' small voice called over from the table.

"Mum, why won't you tell me about my father?"

She braced herself against the counter, her stomach churning. Taking a deep breath, she turned around, "You don't want to know your father."

She turned back around and began to rinse the gravy from the plates. This was something she could have done magically but at the moment Aura needed the distraction.

"Was he a bad man?"

Tears slipped from Aura's eyes as she clutched the ring in her pocket that she'd taken from Gringott's earlier that day. After Felis had found it Aura found that she couldn't leave it behind. There had been a time when this ring had signified the happiest time in her life.

"Yes, he was."

-X-X-X-

The day had finally come. Felis ran excitedly through the train station as Aura pushed the trolley. As Aura caught up to her daughter, she found Felis standing between platforms nine and ten looking very confused.

"Well, where is it?" Felis demanded.

"Come here," Aura smiled, "and follow right behind me."

Aura stood right in front of the column between platforms nine and ten. Felis grabbed onto the back of her robe as she walked straight and went right through the bricks as if they hadn't been there just before. One moment they had been standing in the modern King's Cross Station, and the next they were staring at a classic steam engine in bright shiny red surrounded by witches and wizards both young and old.

Aura helped Felis struggle with her trunk and cage before she knelt down and began tidying her hair and clothes. Felis scowled as her mother attempted to pat down her unruly waves.

"Won't your hair ever stay in place?" Aura sighed, "Now, have a good time on the train and make lots of friends. I'll see you when you get there. And remember, don't listen to your cousin."

"Yes mum," Felis rolled her eyes impatiently.

"All right, get going then."

With a final wave and a smile Felis jumped excitedly onto the train and began to weave her way through the many other students. Aura stood watching her for a few moments before turning to leave, only to be faced with the smug smile of her brother Lucius.

"Do you even know who her father is?" he said in his pompous voice that sounded so much like their father's.

"Good morning Lucius," Aura said politely.

"Not that it really matters who's she is. Neither one is better than the other. The Dark Lord, or the man who betrayed you for the Dark Lord."

-X-X-X-

Felis smiled weakly and apologized profusely as she bumped and weaved her way through the crowd of students on the train. She'd been peaking into compartments for close to a minute and hadn't yet found one that wasn't full. Finally she caught sight of a familiar red head. It was the little girl from the bookshop.

She was sitting in a compartment with the brown haired girl she'd seen in the bookshop as well, who amazingly enough had curlier and messier hair than Felis herself. They were also sitting with a very shy looking boy who's teeth stuck out of his face, he was holding a toad. Felis poked her head in and cleared her throat.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Of course!" said the brown-haired girl politely as she stood to help Felis lift her trunk into the baggage compartment.

"I'm Hermione by the way, Hermione Granger; and this is Ginny Weasley, and Neville Longbottom."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Felis Malfoy."

"So you're Draco's cousin then?" Ginny asked, curiously.

"Yes, but my mother said not to talk to him. Besides, he doesn't look like a very nice boy."

"No, he isn't." Hermione said, "I wonder where Ron and Harry are."

"They were right behind mum and dad and me. Maybe they found a different compartment?" Ginny shrugged.

"Your mother's Aura Malfoy?" Hermione asked and Felis nodded, "I swear I've read that name somewhere before, but I can't remember."

"I know who she is," Neville said quietly, "My gran told me all about her."

Felis glanced at the boy curiously, wondering how he could know about her mother when she herself barely knew anything about her. Her head began to pound as Neville continued to talk.

"She was accused of being a Death Eater. They found her hidden away in You-Know-Who's main base of operations. She claimed she was a prisoner, but no one believed her because she was in fairly good health. Well, except for the scar on her face."

"That can't be right," Felis objected, "My mother would never have been a Death Eater. She said that You-Know-Who was a very bad man who killed her friend. She said that her brother gave her that scar."

"Then why wouldn't she tell anyone about what happened? Why wouldn't she tell anyone about why she was there? Why wouldn't she tell anyone who the father of her mysterious child was?"

-X-X-X-

Felis had remained quiet for the rest of the train ride. Hermione and Ginny had tried to talk to her but she couldn't think about anything other than what Neville had told her. Could her mother have really been a Death Eater? Her whole family had been. But the mother she knew would never hurt a fly. She'd never seen her mother use her wand for anything other than cooking and cleaning and various other mundane spells. And if what Neville said was true, who was her father?

Felis' thoughts never strayed until the train had stopped at Hogsmeade Station and they began to depart the train. Hermione and Neville went off together as they were not First Years. It was already dark out so Ginny and Felis had to follow a lantern light held by an extremely large man.

"Ron told me about him!" Ginny whispered, "That's Hagrid. Apparently he had a pet dragon last year!"

Mention of a dragon, added to the mystical allure of their location, made Felis completely forget about the train. They followed Hagrid through a dark pathway that led down to a large lake. Her and Ginny climbed into a boat with a very blonde girl. As the boats began to magically drift away from the docks they rounded a corner and Felis finally saw the Hogwarts castle for the first time. In the dark, the castle almost looked scary except for that the windows glowed a wonderfully warm and comforting orange colour.

The boats continued to glide across the lake and Felis could have sworn she saw a large tentacle break the surface of the water. After a few minutes the boats came to a stop at another dock and the First Years all climbed out and began to follow Hagrid up a set of stairs until they were led into a small room.

"Wait jus' here. Professor McGonagall 'll be by shortly," Hagrid said in his pleasantly gruff voice.

Not more than a minute later a tall, severe-looking witch came gliding in to the room. She held her back very straight, and wore a tall black pointed hat, and green tartan robes. She looked down her nose, through a pair of square spectacles, at the group of First Years.

"You will follow me in to the Great Hall. Straight line please."

Felis could only presume that this was Professor McGonagall, as the woman had not introduced herself. She spoke in a tone that immediately had the First Years scrambling into a line and they hurried after her. There were many gasps as the group entered the hall. There were four long tables, each full of students in their house colours. At the end of the hall was another table, running perpendicular to the four, raised on a dais. There Felis could see Dumbledore sitting in a large, handsome chair.

Felis stared all around her. This place was the most stunning thing she'd ever seen in her life. The room was so large, it could probably have fit her little cottage home inside it a hundred times or more. The ceiling reflected the starry night sky outside as thousands of candles hung in the air above their heads. They came to an abrupt stop in front of the table at which Dumbledore sat. Professor McGonagall turned around with a piece of parchment in her hand.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Colin Creevey."

Felis barely listened as names were called out. She was still staring all around her and at the sorting hat who seemed to have a mouth somehow. She wondered if it needed to eat. She continued to ignore the sorting until she caught the eye of her mother sitting at the head table, staring at her with an expression of terrible fear.

-X-X-X-

Aura sat at the head table next to Madame Poppy Pomfrey. She'd arrived around mid-day in Hogsmeade before making the long walk up to the castle. Dumbledore had greeted her in the Entrance Hall and went with her up to the Hospital Wing to introduce her to Madame Pomfrey whom she'd never met before.

Now she sat waiting for Felis and the rest of the First Years to come through the doors into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. As much as she tried to smile and socialise with Poppy and the professors she couldn't help but feel dread weighing on her heart. She wasn't sure she wanted to be here when Felis was sorted.

Her thoughts were halted abruptly as the doors opened with a creak and the reassuring face of Minerva McGonagall appeared, followed by a group of intimidated looking children. Of course Aura wasn't at all surprised to see that Felis didn't look intimidated. She'd never been fearful in her life.

As Minerva began to call out names the pounding in Aura's head grew louder and louder. She prayed that they would call Felis by the name she'd given to Dumbledore.

"Felis Malfoy," Minerva called.

Felis stepped up to the stool without hesitation and threw the hat onto her head with such enthusiasm that she earned a few chuckles. Aura stared at the hat, willing it to speak, as the pounding in her head grew louder and louder. She found herself gripping her wedding ring, which she had hung on a chain around her neck, so hard that it began to hurt the back of her neck.

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat called out after what seemed like an hour, and the entire Gryffindor table burst out in cheers and awed whispers.

Aura's breath left her all in one moment. She sat through the rest of the Sorting in a state of numbness. She was pleased that Felis had been sorted in to Gryffindor, like herself, but on the other hand that had been the same house that her husband had been sorted into. At this point she wasn't sure if Gryffindor was any better of an omen than Slytherin would have been. Aura was shaken out of her thoughts at the sound of Dumbledore's speech.

"I would also like to introduce some new staff members," Dumbledore called out, "Aura Malfoy will be joining Madame Pomfrey as a nurse in the Hospital Wing." He paused for the students to applaud, "And our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is none other than Gilderoy Lockhart."

Aura held back a groan as she stood along with Lockhart. She tilted her head as the students clapped, however Lockhart did a fanciful bow, smiling stupidly. Soon after this the food appeared and Aura forgot for a short time all her fears. She'd forgotten how good the food was at Hogwarts and ate more heartily than she'd done in years. She also noticed that Felis seemed to be getting along quite well with a couple girls at the Gryffindor table which helped to waylay her fears a bit.


	3. Chapter Three

Felis and Ginny followed Hermione as she led the way to Gryffindor Tower, Ginny hadn't wanted to follow her brother Percy, who was their House Prefect. Harry and Ron were still nowhere to be seen, which was worrying Hermione and Ginny immensely. Apparently the two boys were very adept at getting in to trouble. They stopped in front of a large portrait of a rather large lady.

"Password?" the lady in the portrait asked.

"Wattlebird," Hermione recited.

The portrait swung open and the three girls entered the common room to find all the students talking in a frenzy.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

Fred and George, Ginny's twin brothers came running up excitedly, "You didn't hear?! Harry and Ron stole dad's car and flew it here! They crash landed into that manky old tree!"

"What?" Hermione shrieked.

"Wicked!" Ginny and Felis exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh, they're going to get in to so much trouble!" Hermione muttered, and shook her head.

"Don't worry Hermione," Fred, or maybe it was George, said, "McGonagall's not going to expel The Famous Harry Potter and his daring sidekick."

A dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks, whom Felis later learned was named Lee Jordan, ran up to the twins then, "They're in Snape's office!"

"Well it was nice knowing them," George, or Fred, stated with a smile.

-X-X-X-

"Did either of you even attempt to comb your hair?" Aura sighed as James and Sirius all but crash-landed at the breakfast table.

"And why would we do something so ridiculous?" James asked.

"All our talent comes from our hair, you know." Sirius grinned.

Lily giggled as Aura rolled her eyes. She'd never understand boys, especially those two boys in particular.

"What talent? You're both only taking a couple of classes."

"Exactly," Sirius said and smiled through a bite of dry toast, "All the important ones."

"And how many are you two lovely ladies taking?" James asked as he stared unabashedly at Lily, unnoticed by Lily herself.

"A fair few," she responded in her bell-like voice.

"Let's see, we're both taking Potions, and Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration, and Herbology. Oh, and I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures, just for fun." Aura said as she counted on her fingers.

"You're taking a class for fun? I think you're off your onion, mate." Sirius said giving her a look of absolute disgust.

"Hang on," James interrupted, "Those are all the classes you need to become an Auror."

"Very well spotted," Aura rolled her eyes again.

The sound of Sirius' laughter disturbed quite a few others' breakfasts, "You, an Auror?"

"And why the bloody hell not? I'm one of the smartest in our year!"

"Well, you're not very intimidating; it's not all about brains."

"Frank and Alice aren't intimidating either but they've both just been accepted into Auror training."

"Yes, but there's just something about those two, they can be a bit scary sometimes. I'm afraid, you just aren't."

"Oh bugger off, you insensitive arse!"

Aura woke from her day dream, still staring out across the Great Hall at the spot where Felis was sitting with Harry and his friends for breakfast. The memories of this place were so tangible that Aura found herself thinking of moments she'd thought she'd completely forgotten.

She could smell Sirius, as if he were sitting next to her. She could hear Lily's tinkling laughter through the din of voices. She could see James sneaking glances at Lily when he thought no one was watching. Aura had always been watching, though. She could feel the warmth that always rippled off of Remus like waves. She could hear Peter's squeaking laughter as he listened excitedly as James and Sirius recounted their latest adventure.

"Mornin' Aura," a cheery, gruff voice said from beside her before a very large man squeezed in to the seat next to her.

"Good morning Hagrid," Aura smiled, glad of the distraction.

"I gotta say, it sure is nice ter see ya again."

"Thank you. I'm still trying to get used to being back, though. It's a little strange, being here without them."

Hagrid sighed heavily, "I know wha' you mean."

-X-X-X-

Felis was so excited for her first day that she was the first one out of bed. She was already dressed and down in the common room with Hermione by the time Ginny emerged, still looking rather groggy. The three girls went down to the Great Hall together; Hermione immediately propping open a copy of Lockhart's book, 'Voyages with Vampires'. A little later on Harry and Ron joined them. Hermione greeted them very stiffly.

"Did you really fly a car into a tree last night?" Felis asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Harry smiled.

"You're not expelled then, I presume." Hermione asked.

"No, but Snape definitely tried."

Felis continued to eat her breakfast, the entire time feeling her mother's stare on the back of her neck. She didn't dare turn around. She wasn't sure she could look at her mother after what she'd heard on the train.

It hadn't mattered that she didn't look back though as only a few minutes later, her mother was standing behind her. Felis turned around to see her mother standing straight, as always, with a sad smile on her face.

"Just thought I'd come and wish you a good first day."

"Thanks mum," Felis muttered, embarrassed.

"Have a good day everyone. Harry," she nodded his way before leaving the Great Hall.

"What's with the scar?" Ron blurted.

Hermione gasped, "Ronald, don't be rude!"

Felis shrugged, "It's all right. I don't really know much about the scar. All she'd tell me was that her brother gave it to her, but that I'm too young to hear the story."

"Why does she look at me like that?" Harry asked.

"Dunno. She did mention that she knew your mother. But again, she won't tell me anything else," Felis sighed heavily.

"I know how you feel."

Neville turned towards the group and smiled, "Mail's due any minute - I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot."

Felis gasped as a moment later at least a hundred owls came flying through the Great Hall, dropping packages and letters as they went. One owl fell into Hermione's jug, and milk and feathers splattered all over them.

"Errol!" Ron yelled, grabbing the owl by its feet; it was unconscious.

Ron pulled a red envelope from its leg, "Oh no."

"It's all right," Hermione huffed, "he's still alive."

"It's not that," Ron squeaked, waving the envelope in the air, "It's that."

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"She's - she's sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly.

"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" - he gulped - "it was horrible."

Harry and Felis looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope.

"What's a Howler?" they asked.

No one answered. Ron continued to stare at the envelope which had begun to smoke at the corners. Ginny, who still couldn’t speak up around Harry, nudged Felis discreetly and whispered.

“You may want to cover your ears.”

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes."

With shaking hands, Ron slowly opened the envelope. Felis stared at it, filled with curiosity. Neville had his fingers in his ears. In a moment, she knew why. She jumped as a loud voice burst forth from the letter.

"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE -"

It must have been the voice of Ron and Ginny's mother. Felis could see now why Ron had been terrified to open it. The voice echoed across the hall, and students and teachers alike were all swiveling in their seats to see who'd received the howler. Felis returned her attention back to the screaming Mrs Weasley.

"- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED!"

Felis saw Harry's face turn red at the sound of his name.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

The Hall seemed especially quiet after the screeching had stopped. The envelope, now sitting on the table, burst into flames and curled up into a small pile of ashes. Felis could hear soft laughter and then the room gradually went back to normal.

-X-X-X-

Professor Flitwick was a very odd-looking man. He wasn't much taller than Felis herself. He had long white hair and a beard and wore long velvet robes, much like Dumbledore. He stood in the middle of the classroom, on a large pile of books, desks surrounding him like an amphitheatre.

"Good morning! Good morning, First Years!" Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice said excitedly, "Find your seats and we'll get started."

Ginny and Felis took seats next to each other in the front row, their wands already out of their pockets.

"Sorry girls, but you're going to have to put your wands away for now. And please open ‘The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1’. You need to know what you're casting before you cast it."

Felis and Ginny, along with the rest of the class, groaned and reluctantly pulled their books out of their bags. This was not how Felis had imagined it.

"Open your books to chapter one."

-X-X-X-

Most of the classes that day were all technical, with very little practical teachings, although History of Magic didn't seem like it would ever get better. At first Felis thought that it would be interesting to be taught by a ghost. Until she found out what that meant. It seemed Professor Binns had never had an exciting day in his life. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure he knew he was dead.

The flying lesson though had been wonderful! Ginny and Felis were actually quite good. They managed to keep themselves fairly stable on their brooms. A tiny blonde boy, however, couldn't seem to be able to touch off the ground and even fell off his broom multiple times.

Professor McGonagall had already given them homework. Apparently the fact that it was the first day of the school year meant nothing to her. And "Professor" Lockhart had just given them an incredibly stupid test asking them all sorts of questions about himself. Felis didn't particularly care that his favourite colour was lilac. She hoped that it would get better the next day as her and Ginny entered the Great Hall for supper.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that this wouldn't be as much fun as I thought?" she sighed heavily as she sat down next to Hermione.

"What's not to like about classes?" Hermione asked, seemingly confused, "They're all extremely fascinating."

"We barely got to touch our wands today," Ginny said glumly.

"Don't worry, it'll get better," Harry said as he turned towards us.

Ginny's face lit up bright red and her mouth shut immediately in to a straight line. Felis smirked and nudged her in the side.

"Did you have Lockhart today?" she asked him.

Harry sneered, "Yeah. Smarmy git isn't he?"

Felis giggled and nodded, "My mother doesn't like him very much either. She said he was just as pig-headed when he was a student too."

Hermione cleared her throat, "Gilderoy Lockhart is a hero. He didn't earn the Third Class of the Order of Merlin for nothing."

Harry and Felis shared a look but left the subject alone. He wasn't yet back in Hermione's good books.

-X-X-X-

"You're friends with Harry?" a small blonde boy asked Felis a few days later, his eyes wide with excitement, as they stood in Herbology.

Felis looked at him, taken aback, "Um, I guess."

"Did you know he's the youngest seeker in a century?"

She shrugged, trying to ignore the boy.

"And last year he almost died fighting You-Know-Who in the dungeons of the school!"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you think you could get him to sign a picture for me?" the boy pulled a picture of Harry and Lockhart out of his book bag, waving it in Felis' face.

She snatched it out of his hands, "Who are you?"

"Oh!" the boy jumped, then held out his hand, "I'm Colin Creevey."

Felis handed the picture back and eyed him sternly, “Look, I’m not getting your picture signed. That’s weird. Just talk to him yourself. Harry’s nice.”

Colin looked disappointed for a moment before shrugging, “So you’re a Malfoy? How come you’re in Gryffindor, then?”

-X-X-X-

Felis, Hermione, and Ron were waiting in the stands at the Quidditch pitch, ready to watch the Gryffindor teams' first practice of the season. Felis had tried to get Ginny to come along but she wouldn’t move her head from her pillow for anything, not even to watch Harry, something Ginny was always in the mood to do. They waited for quite a while before the team actually emerged from the change room.

"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously.

"Haven't even started," said Harry, looking jealously at the toast and marmalade Ron and Hermione had brought out of the Great Hall. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

Felis watched as the team flew around the pitch. Colin Creevey was standing a few yards away, his muggle camera clicking furiously.

"Look this way, Harry!" he cried, "This way!"

Harry ignored him but it seemed like the Captain wasn't appreciative of Colin's picture-taking. They seemed to be having a bit of an argument until Fred, or George, pointed towards the end of the pitch. Ron, Hermione, and Felis turned to see a group of Slytherins in Quidditch gear charging on to the pitch.

"Oh, this can't be good," Ron muttered.

The Gryffindor team and the Slytherin team were arguing as they made their way towards the group to see what was going on.

"Oh look, a field invasion," the burly captain said, his lips pressed in a sneer.

Felis could see her cousin Draco in the group, holding on to what looked like a shiny new broomstick.

"What's happening?" Ron asked Harry. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?"

He was looking at Draco, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Draco, smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him. Felis couldn't stop staring at Draco. She couldn't understand how she could be related to such a foul boy.

"Good, aren't they?" said Draco smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team howled with laughter.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply. "They got in on pure talent."

Draco's face turned quickly from a self-satisfied smile to an ugly sneer as he spat, "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

The collective gasp that came from the Gryffindor team, Ron, and Felis was almost comical, and sent everyone in to a fury. Flint had to dive in front of Draco to stop Fred and George from jumping on him, Alicia shrieked, "How dare you!"

Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, and yelled, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Draco’s face.

A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out; his face a pale shade of green at this point. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap.

The Slytherin team were paralyzed with laughter. Flint was doubled up, hanging onto his new broomstick for support. Draco was on all fours, banging the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors were gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs. Nobody seemed to want to touch him.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," said Harry to Hermione and Felis, who nodded bravely, and they pulled Ron up by the arms.

"What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you?" Colin yelled as he ran towards them, his camera still held high in the air. Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front.

"Oooh," said Colin, "Can you hold him still, Harry?"

Felis stepped in front of Colin, shielding them from the flash of his camera. She yelled back at Harry and Hermione, “Go, I’ll deal with him.”


	4. Chapter Four

“Colin, we talked about this, you can’t just go around taking pictures of everything you want,” Felis scolded him, “It’s not polite.”

 

“I know, I’m sorry. I just get so excited, and I want to document it. Do you know what I mean? Like, something really cool happens and you want to capture it forever and forever, you know?”

 

Colin spoke a mile a minute as Felis dragged him away from the Quidditch pitch.

 

“Colin!” Felis yelled, interrupting his rambling, “I get it. This world is a lot different than what you’re used to. But if you keep sticking your camera in people’s faces you’re going to get hurt.”

 

“Sorry, Felis. Do you think Harry can fix Ron?”

 

“Stop asking me questions about Harry. I don’t know him that well. I don’t know if he can fix Ron. They took him to Hagrid’s, he’ll know what to do.”

 

Unfortunately, as it turned out, Hagrid couldn’t do anything either. Ron had thrown up slugs until the three of them had returned to the castle for lunch, Ron and Harry looking extremely glum.

 

“What’s wrong with them?” Felis asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

 

As soon as they joined them, Ginny left the table without a word. Felis frowned, Ginny had been acting a bit strange lately, and never seemed to want to talk anymore.

 

“Oh, they found out they’ll be doing detention tonight, is all,” Hermione said rather satisfactorily.

 

"Filch'll have me there all night," said Ron heavily. "No magic! There must be about a hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning."

 

"I'd swap anytime," said Harry hollowly. "I've had loads of practice with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail - he'll be a nightmare."

 

-X-X-X-

 

Felis had spent the rest of the afternoon with Harry and Ron and Hermione since Ginny didn't seem to be in the mood for company. It was beginning to annoy Felis that Ginny wouldn't go near Harry. Felis quite enjoyed his company, as well as Ron and Hermione's.

 

At eight o'clock Harry and Ron left for their detentions. Hermione and Felis finished up their deserts and then headed back to the common room where they spent the evening sitting in front of the fire doing their homework.

 

Around half-past eleven Hermione excused herself to bed. Felis continued to lay in front of the fire for a while longer, thinking about her mother; and her mother's family. Or rather, her own family. Felis still couldn't bring herself to believe that she was related to Draco Malfoy amongst hundreds of other foul witches and wizards. From all the information she'd gathered her ancestry was not a well-liked bunch of people.

 

She was just cleaning up her books, about to retire to her bed when she heard a hiss. Then a bone-chilling voice sounded from all around her.

 

"Come... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..."

 

Then the voice disappeared and the room was quiet again. Felis shivered, "What the bloody hell was that?"

 

Before the voice could come back Felis ran quickly to her room. She noticed that Ginny's bed was still empty and wondered where she could be and whether she'd heard the voice too. Felis changed into her pajamas as quickly as she could and then curled up in her bed, soothed by Panthera’s soft purrs next to her head.

 

-X-X-X-

 

Aura couldn't remember the last time she'd been so busy. October had brought with it a damp chill that seemed to cling to everything. Students and teachers alike came in to the hospital wing constantly complaining of colds. She would give them Pepperup Potion and send them on their way, smoke billowing out of their ears.

 

She'd rarely had a chance to see Felis either, outside of meals in the Great Hall. Although it didn't seem like Felis was too concerned with seeing her mother, much to Aura's dislike. She wasn't used to not being by her daughters side to watch her constantly. But the teachers assured her that Felis was a perfect little lady in each of their classes and was doing superbly. Well, all except for Snape. He and Aura had not yet spoken to each other since she'd arrived.

 

-X-X-X-

 

_ Aura was sitting in a desk in the Great Hall, busily filling out her Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. It was all rather easy, she thought. She looked behind her to see Lily writing calmly on her paper. Aura turned back and finished the last questions before Professor Flitwick cleared his throat at the front of the room. _

 

_ "Five more minutes!" _

 

_ Aura looked up to see Professor Flitwick walking through the desks. He passed by James who was slouched in his chair nonchalantly. She shook her head but chuckled quietly as James turned around in his seat to grin at Sirius who returned the grin with a cocky thumbs up. She took one more long glance at Sirius before returning to her test. _

 

_ "Quills down, please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!" _

 

_ Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed. A couple of students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back on to his feet. _

 

_ "Thank you, thank you," panted Professor Flitwick. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!" _

 

_ Aura and Lily met up with Marlene McKinnon. They made their way outside, laughing as they passed by a couple of admiring first years. They found a nice dry spot by the lake and took off their shoes and socks, dipping their feet in the water. _

 

_ A few moments later their peace was interrupted by the sound of a scuffle going on behind them. James' voice echoed across the grounds to them, "Scourgify!" _

 

_ Lily, Aura, and Marlene turned around to see Severus Snape lying on the ground, wrapped in ropes. His mouth was full of pink soap bubbles which were consistently streaming out. It wasn't hard to see that Severus was gasping and choking. _

 

_ Lily gasped, immediately got to her feet and ran over to them, Aura and Marlene right behind her, "Leave him  _ **_alone_ ** _!" _

 

_ Sirius and James turned towards them, James' hand flying up to ruffle his hair. _

 

_ "All right, Evans?" he asked, suddenly sounding more mature. _

 

_ "Leave him alone," Lily said again with great disdain, "What's he done to you?" _

 

_ "Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, smirking, "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean." _

 

_ Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Remus, intent on his book, didn't, and neither did Lily. _

 

_ "You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone." _

 

_ "I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on, go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again." _

 

_ Aura saw Severus behind James as the Impediment Jinx began to wear off. He was beginning to inch towards his wand, still spitting up soap suds. _

 

_ "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily. _

 

_ "Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, then noticed Severus crawling, "Oi!" _

 

_ Sirius was too late. Severus had grabbed his wand and pointed it straight at James. The crowd gasped as a flash of light shot out of the tip of his wand and a gash appeared on the side of James' face, splattering blood on his robes. James whirled around in a matter of seconds and a moment later Severus was hanging upside-down, his robes fallen down over his face to reveal a pair of greying underpants. _

 

_ The small crowd cheered; and Sirius, James and Peter roared with laughter. _

 

_ Aura could see that Lily thought it a trifle amusing, as her furious expression twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile before saying, “Let him down!” _

 

_ "Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Severus fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Severus keeled over again, rigid as a board. _

 

_ "Leave him alone! " Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily. _

 

_ "Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly. _

 

_ "Take the curse off him, then!" _

 

_ James sighed deeply, then turned to Severus and muttered the counter-curse. _

 

_ "There you go," he said, as Severus struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -" _

 

_ "I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!" _

 

_ Aura gasped. Lily blinked.  _

 

_ "Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." _

 

_ "Apologize to Evans!" James roared at Severus, his wand pointed threateningly at him, his face no longer playful, now a mask of rage. _

 

_ "I don't want you to make him apologize," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is." _

 

_ "What?" yelped James. "I'd  _ **_never_ ** _ call you a - you-know-what!" _

 

_ "Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me sick." _

 

_ She turned on her heel and hurried away, Aura and Marlene following close behind. _

 

_ "Evans!" James shouted after them. "Hey, Evans!" _

 

Aura sighed as the memory washed over her. That hadn't been a very good day. Lily had cried for hours after that. A little because of what Severus had called her. But mostly because she hated the fact that she actually did like James.

 

Two years later James and Lily had begun officially dating, and then married a year after that. She'd been pregnant with Harry not long after. And then Aura had been captured by Voldemort, and she never saw Lily again.


	5. Chapter Five

Ginny continued to talk less and less to Felis and even stopped sitting with her in classes. Which annoyed Felis more so because Colin Creevey was constantly following her around now like a little lost puppy. At least he’d stopped asking questions about Harry.

As much as she tried to hang out with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, they didn’t usually go out of their way to invite her. And since Felis’ schedule was different from theirs she found herself alone more often than not. She’d begun to notice that many of the students avoided her, probably because of who her mother was. The only one who didn’t was Colin, and that was because he didn’t know anything about the wizarding world or its past. So slowly Felis became used to Colin, even finding his excited rambling a tad endearing.

She learned that his father was a milkman and that he had a younger brother. He desperately wanted Dennis to come to Hogwarts, too, but had learned that it was extremely rare for two muggle-born wizards to come from the same family.

Thankfully Felis hadn’t heard the voice again and had all-together forgotten about it until Halloween night. She and Colin went down to the Great Hall with the rest of the students for a massive feast. The Hall was decorated with hundreds of pumpkins, faces carved into their sides, floating above their heads. The tables were overflowing with food, everything one could possibly imagine.

It was during pudding that Felis heard the voice again. Mid-bite of a fantastic chocolate cake, the hissing, slimy voice echoed through the hall.

"Rip... tear... kill..."

“Colin, did you hear that?” Felis asked.

Colin looked at her, chocolate smeared on his face, “What?”

Felis shook her head, “Never mind.”

Colin promptly went back to devouring his pudding.

"Soo hungry... for so long... "

Felis put her pudding down and slowly got up from the table. “I’ll be back in a bit, Colin. Stay here.”

Colin shrugged and Felis looked up at the head table to make sure her mother wasn’t looking before ducking out of the Great Hall.

"Kill... time to kill... "

The voice sounded like it was directly above her. Felis looked up at the ceiling but there was nothing there. The hissing continued as suddenly Harry, Ron, and Hermione burst in from the dungeons.

“Harry?” Felis asked, but he didn’t notice her.

"This way," Harry shouted, and he began to run, up the marble staircase to the first floor, Ron and Hermione clattering behind him.

"What're we -"

"SHH!" Felis hushed them and Harry finally turned to look at her.

“You hear it too?”

Felis nodded and strained her ears, trying to listen. The voice was still moving away. It was at least a floor above them now.

"I smell blood... I SMELL BLOOD!"

"It's going to kill someone!" Harry shouted, and ignoring Ron and Hermione's bewildered faces, he and Felis ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over the pounding of their footsteps. They hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione panting behind them, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.

"What was that all about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear anything."

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.

"Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

'The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'

"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.

As they edged nearer, Felis could see there was a large puddle of water on the floor; Harry almost slipped but Ron and Hermione grabbed him, and they inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Let's get out of here."

"Shouldn't we try and help -" Felis began awkwardly.

"Trust me," said Ron. "We don't want to be found here."

But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends.

The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Felis stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight.

Then someone shouted through the quiet.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

It was Draco, of course. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Attracted no doubt by Draco's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.

And his popping eyes fell on Harry.

"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll -"

"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Felis, and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, Miss Malfoy."

Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.

"My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.

As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Felis saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Felis exchanged tense looks and sank into chairs outside the pool of candlelight, watching.

The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris' fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to smile. And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture - I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very counter curse that would have saved her."

Lockhart's comments were followed by heaving sobs from Filch. Dumbledore was muttering words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand.

"I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once."

The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net.

At last Dumbledore straightened up.

"She's not dead, Argus," he said softly.

Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore.

"Ah! I thought so!" said Lockhart.

"But how, I cannot say."

"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tear stained face to Harry.


	6. Chapter Six

Dumbledore looked as if he wanted to roll his eyes.

"No second year could have done this," he said firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced -"

"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, his face growing purpling. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - he knows I'm a - I'm a -" Filch's face worked horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!" he finished.

"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry said loudly. "And I don't even know what a Squib is."

"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows, "Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione launched into an explanation about a Death Day party.

"-there were hundreds of ghosts, they'll tell you we were there -"

"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor? And Miss Malfoy, you left the feast early."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry and Felis.

"Because - because -" Harry stammered.

Felis jumped in, “I wasn’t feeling well. Ate too fast, I guess. I met Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they were coming up from the party and they decided to accompany me back to the common room.

"Without any supper?" said Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across his gaunt face. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties."

"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly as his stomach gave a huge rumble.

Snape's nasty smile widened.

"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready to be honest."

"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong."

Dumbledore was still looking at Harry curiously.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly.

Snape looked furious. So did Filch.

"My cat has been Petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professer Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."

"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -"

"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

There was a very awkward pause.

"You may go," Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Felis.

They went, as quickly as they could without actually running. When they were a floor up from Lockhart's office, they turned into an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them. Harry squinted at them through the darkness.

"D'you think I should have told them about that voice we heard?"

"No," said Ron, without hesitation. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."

Harry asked, "You do believe me, don't you?"

"'Course I do," said Ron quickly. "But, you must admit it's weird-"

"We know it's weird," said Felis. "The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber has been opened. What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, it rings a sort of bell," said Ron slowly. "I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once. Might've been Bill-"

"And what on earth's a Squib?" said Harry.

To everyone's surprise, Ron stifled a snigger.

"Well - it's not funny really - but as it's Filch," he said. "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much." Ron gave a satisfied smile. "He's bitter."

A clock chimed somewhere.

"Midnight," said Harry. "We'd better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else."

They returned to the common room in silence. Ron and Hermione went straight up to bed but Felis and Harry sat in front of the fire for a few minutes, every so often glancing at each other.

"Why are we the only ones who can hear it?" Harry asked, frustrated.

"I dunno," Felis shrugged, "What's so different about us?"

-X-X-X-

The next day Aura cornered Felis in the Great Hall before breakfast.

"What happened last night?" she asked, her eyes wide with terror as she clutched Felis to her.

"I don't know, mum. We just stumbled upon it on our way to Gryffindor Tower."

"Well, you be careful," Aura forced Felis to look her in the eyes, "Do you hear me?"

Felis nodded and Aura let her go for her breakfast. Fear coursed through Aura's veins, as if it had never left for the past two months. Why did this have to happen the same year she came back?

-X-X-X-

Filch continued to sulk in front of the place that they'd found Mrs. Norris for days after it happened, constantly on the lookout, as if he might catch the one who'd done it. He was giving detentions to anyone who even moved in his vicinity.

Ginny had also become extremely disturbed at the news of Mrs. Norris. She sat on her bed, crying for hours, continuing to isolate herself, only ever writing in her journal, never speaking to Felis or Colin.

Felis was sitting with Colin in the library one day at lunch doing homework. Well, she was pretending to do homework. Really, she was listening in to Harry, Ron, and Hermione a few tables away, hoping she could hear anything from them about the voice. Even though she could hear it too, she still wasn’t being invited in to their conversations. She suspected Harry didn’t completely trust her. After all, she was a Malfoy.

She didn’t get any information from eavesdropping and so instead decided on a new tactic. When the bell rang she practically ran to Transfiguration, Colin trailing behind her excitedly.

"Be quiet class. Today we will continue to practice turning our matches in to needles." Professor McGonagall announced. The class began to pull out their wands.

Felis lifted her arm in the air.

"Yes, Miss Malfoy?"

"Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

The room quickly quieted. Colin breathed deeply beside her. Each student's face looked up at McGonagall eagerly. She sighed deeply and nodded.

"Very well. As you all know Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Now, three of the founders coexisted quite harmoniously. One did not.

"Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, 'pure-bloods.' Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school.

"Now, according to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Though, shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber and unleash the horror within, and by so doing purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin’s view, were unworthy to study magic."

Felis glanced over at Colin and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well, naturally, the school has been searched many times. No such chamber has been found."

"Professor? What exactly does legend tell us lies within the Chamber?"

"The Chamber is said to be home to something that only the Heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be the home of a monster."

-X-X-X-

Felis was barely paying attention to Colin after class as they followed to flow of students through the hallways. He was rambling on and on about where the location of the chamber could be and it wasn’t until they went past Harry that she tuned in to what he was saying. Colin was jumping excitedly to get Harry’s attention.

"Hiya, Harry!"

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.  
Felis stepped out of the sea of students. She needed to talk to Harry.

Colin continued to yell above the noise of shuffling student, "Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're-"

But Colin was so small he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you, Harry!" and he was gone.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"That Harry is Slytherin's heir," Felis said, finally catching up to them.

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be - well - human."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened."

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.

They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Harry, dropping his bag and getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching for clues.

"Scorch marks!" he said. "Here - and here -"

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny."

They crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

“I’ve never seen spiders act like that, have you?” Felis said.

"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"

Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run.

"What's up?" said Harry.

"I - don't - like - spiders," said Ron tensely.

"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You've used spiders in Potions loads of times."

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move."

Hermione and Felis giggled.

"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick. You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and-"

He broke off, shuddering. 

Harry said, "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door."

He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned.

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."

"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look."

And ignoring the large OUT OF ORDER sign, she opened the door. It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom ever. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges.

Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall, Felis behind her. When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"

Harry and Ron went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.

"This is a girls' bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron and Harry suspiciously. "They're not girls."

"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show them how er - nice it is in here."

She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.

"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry mouthed at Hermione.

"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask -"

"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead -"

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only -"

"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"

"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said Felis quickly. "Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween."

"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.

"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm - that I'm-"

"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.

Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Felis shrugged wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle. Come on, let's go."

The door had barely closed on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a loud voice made all four of them jump.


	7. Chapter Seven

"Ron!"

Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.

"That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know -"

"Get - away - from - there -" Percy said, striding toward them and starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly overexcited by this business -"

"I think I'm doing quite all right, thank you very much," Felis said, putting her hands on her hips.

"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy -"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"

And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.

That night, they sat huddled in the common room, as far away from Percy as they could get. Ron was still in a foul mood and kept blotting his homework with ink. At one point he accidentally lit his parchment on fire due to his broken wand. Realizing that they wouldn't get any work done, they put away their books, even Hermione.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy -"

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him. 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' Come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -"

"But if Draco was the heir of Slytherin, it could be me just as easily, couldn't it? Although, my mother won't even trust him," Felis agreed, "And he's only twelve."

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.

"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."

"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son."

"I mean, we do have a lot of family heirlooms, apparently. But if my family really did have the key to this chamber, wouldn’t my mother have said something?”

“Maybe she never knew about it,” Harry argued.

"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible."

"But how do we prove it?" said Harry darkly.

"I don't think he'd tell me," Felis shrugged, praying that that wasn't an option.

"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice, "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect -"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."

"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.

"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."

"What's that?" said Ron and Harry together.

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago -"

"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" muttered Ron.

"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him."

"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," said Ron, frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like the Slytherins forever?"

"It wears off after a while," said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently. "But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library."

There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted Section: You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher.

"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really," said Ron, "if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions."

"I think," said Hermione, "that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance.

"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that," said Ron. "They'd have to be really thick."

-X-X-X-

"My fair lady, do allow me to escort you to the Great Hall." Gilderoy Lockhart stood at the door to the Hospital Wing, one arm thrust out at an angle, inviting Aura to wrap her arm with his.

She sighed, "Gilderoy, it didn't work when you were thirteen. It won't work now."

"Come now, Aura, we're both adults. And now that you don't have that other bloke sniffing around I see no reason why you would want to turn me down."

Aura whirled around to face him, her eyes hard as stone, "That bloke was and still is my husband. He may not have turned out to be who I thought he was, but I will still never love another man as much as I loved him. So leave me be."

Without another word she turned back around and stormed briskly away. The last thing she heard before entering the hall was Gilderoy's murmur, "I wasn't talking about love."

-X-X-X-

_ "Everything is going to be fine," Lily said as she brushed out Aura's hair, smiling in the mirror. _

 

_ The day was her wedding day, and Aura was not looking forward to it. She had just turned seventeen a couple of weeks earlier, and was still in her sixth year at Hogwarts. _

_ She'd been woken up that morning by Lily, Marlene, and a gaggle of house elves. They pulled her out of bed and took her first to the Prefect bathroom and made her bathe in vanilla-scented soap. Then they took her to Professor Flitwick's office, who had graciously allowed them to use it before the wedding. _

 

_ There they fussed over her hair and makeup, each one having their own ideas. Aura could have cared less what she looked like that day. He probably won't even notice, she thought. _

 

_ Aura was marrying a man whom she loved. The problem was, she didn't believe he returned the feelings. They had known each other their entire lives, but they were only getting married so as to prevent her father and brother from marrying her to Lord Voldemort. _

 

_ Lily and Marlene tried everything they could to bring her spirits up. Not even when they showed her the wedding dress did she smile. It was a beautiful dress, very simple, the bodice completely covered in silk, with a demure neckline and elbow-length sleeves. The skirt billowed out in a pool of silk, and pearl buttons graced the length of the back. It was a dress that she probably would have chosen for herself. _

 

_ The time had come. Lily and Marlene, dressed in dazzling red knee-length dresses with a crocheted bodice and cap sleeves, led Aura to a wall where they made her close her eyes. _

 

_ “Now, think 'I'm here for a wedding'." Lily instructed. _

 

_ Aura did as she was told and heard a faint pop. When she opened her eyes there was an old wood and iron door in front of them. Marlene opened the door and went in first, followed by Lily, and then Aura. _

 

_ Aura had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing properly. The room was dressed in banners and ribbons of silk in red and gold. Many of the teachers were seated on either side of the aisle, as well as most of Gryffindor House. And at the end of the aisle, there he stood with the widest possible grin on his face. Aura felt the tears welling in her eyes. _

 

_ He'd always been handsome, but today even more so. His wavy, black hair had actually been combed back for once and he was wearing a brand-new, crisp, black tuxedo. As she approached him she could see that there were tears in his eyes as well. _

 

_ She'd assumed it would just be the two of them, a small service that meant almost nothing. She, at least, had not done any planning. Now she could see that this wedding actually meant something, not only to her, but to him as well. _

 

-X-X-X-

Aura stood at the end of the pitch, her wand ready in her hand. Dumbledore had asked her to attend all Quidditch matches in case of injury. She watched as the stands filled up with teachers and students alike. She used to love watching the Quidditch matches. James had been such a good player and of course, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily had never missed a game.

The cheers started up as the Gryffindor team and Slytherin team walked out on to the pitch and met Madam Hooch in the middle. The captains, Flint and Wood glared at each other ferociously.

Madam Hooch's voice echoed over the stadium, "On my whistle. Three, two, one."

At the sound of the whistle the players shot up in to the air. Aura could see Harry fly up higher than everyone else, Draco following not far behind. She gasped as a bludger came within inches of Harry's head. One of the beaters, a Weasley twin, hit the bludger away from Harry but it did a sharp turn and again went straight for Harry.

Harry swerved and the Weasley twin hit the bludger towards Draco this time, but once again it turned sharply and came after Harry. He shot off quickly towards the other end of the pitch, the bludger not far behind him.

The other Weasley twin was waiting for them. As the bludger passed by him he sent it off course with a loud 'thunk'. And again, the bludger came back to Harry.

Something was most certainly wrong, Aura thought. It had been a long time since she'd seen a quidditch match but she knew that a bludger was not meant to go after only one player.

It had now begun to rain. The score was sixty to nothing for Slytherin. Both the Weasley twins were flanking Harry, each taking turns beating the bludger away. A time out was called and she could see the Gryffindor team arguing amongst each other.

The game commenced and the bludger once again began to follow Harry within seconds of him touching off the ground. He zigged and zagged around the pitch, trying to keep ahead of the bludger and stay out of its direct line. He was near the Gryffindor goal posts when the bludger finally hit him. Malfoy was yelling something at him and Harry stayed still for too long as the bludger came hurtling in to his right arm.

His arm hanging limply at his side he went racing past Malfoy's head. The arm that was still all right went swinging out before Harry and his broom began to descend quickly towards the ground. He hit the mud with a splash and a crash, his arm lying beside him at an odd angle.

Aura hurried out to meet him. She tried to call out as Lockhart got their first, leaning over Harry.

"Let me through!" she yelled, trying to push her way through the growing crowd around Harry.

"No- don't-" she heard Harry cry out weakly before she saw a flash of light.

She broke through the crowd to find Lockhart looking extremely embarrassed, Harry's arm wobbling around like a noodle.

"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing - ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him? - and Madam Pomfrey will be able to - er - tidy you up a bit."

"You fool!" she yelled as she helped Ron and Hermione get Harry to his feet, "You should have never touched him, you're not a bloody healer!"

-X-X-X-

"You should have come straight to me!" Madam Pomfrey raged, holding up the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a working arm. "I can mend bones in a second - but growing them back - "

"I'm sorry Poppy, Lockhart got to him first," Aura apologized.

"Oh, the nerve of that man!"

"You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.

"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey grimly, throwing Harry a pair of pajamas. "You'll have to stay the night."

Hermione, Aura, and Madame Pomfrey waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while Ron helped him into his pajamas.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Ron called through the curtain. "If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked."

"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry?"

"No," said Harry, "But it doesn't do anything else either."

Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and Aura came around the curtain. Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of Skele-Gro.

"You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming beakerful and handing it to him. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Aura stifled a grin as Harry coughed up the Skele-Gro. She left them for a few minutes to talk amongst themselves before the door of the hospital wing burst open. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team and Felis had arrived to see Harry.

"Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."

Aura smiled warmly at the sight of Felis looking worried over Harry's well being. It's how Lily and James would have wanted it.

They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Harry's bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting, "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow! Out! Out!"


	8. Chapter Eight

_ “My Lord, the baby is coming," Aura heard the sound of Bellatrix's voice through the pounding in her head. _

 

_ Aura lay on her side, curled around her belly protectively. She moaned and tried desperately to keep her breath steady as another contraction pulsed from her womb. Please be healthy, she thought, please don't be  _ **_his_ ** _ child. She wished beyond anything else that her husband were there. She still didn't believe Bellatrix when she said that it was he who had betrayed her. There was no way he would do that. _

 

_ Aura gasped as the contraction subsided. Bellatrix led Lord Voldemort to her bedside. He looked at her with an expression of mingled amazement and disgust. He began to reach his hand out to her stomach. _

 

_ "No!" she screamed, "Don't you dare touch her!" _

 

_ To Aura's great relief her sister-in-law, who had recently had a child herself, came rushing in to the room. She pressed a cold, wet cloth to Aura's forehead, and without fear, asked Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort to leave the room. _

 

_ "The pain, Narcissa," Aura groaned. _

 

_ “I know, darling. I know,” Narcissa cooed, stroking her hair back from Aura’s face. _

 

_ She helped Aura move on to her back to check how far along she was. _

 

_ "Are you ready?" Narcissa asked as she helped Aura shift herself in to position. _

 

_ Aura nodded her head and laid back, waiting for the next contraction. It didn't take long. She pushed through the pain, squeezing the arms of two other witches on either side of her. She pressed all her strength down and screamed against the firey burn as she ripped open. She pushed for a quarter of an hour until suddenly with a final heave, a little bloody, slippery, baby slid out and into Narcissa’s waiting arms. _

 

_ The world went black for a moment as Aura breathed deeply, an utter emptiness taking over. She didn’t come back to reality until she felt a delicate weight being placed on her chest. The warm little body, still wet and covered in birth matter was crying softly. Aura let out a chuckle as tears sprang to her eyes. _

_   
_ _ Blinking away the tears she looked down to look at her daughter’s face for the first time. Instead the sickly grey face of Lord Voldemort smiled wickedly up at her. The face began to laugh. Aura couldn't help but stare at the black hole that was the mouth of this hideous creature. She screamed as a snake came slithering out. _

 

Aura woke with a start, her body covered in sweat, her heart pounding in her chest. She whirled out of bed at the sound of an impatient knock on her door. She opened it to find a dishevelled Minerva McGonagall, still dressed in her night clothes, standing in the doorway with a very frightened expression on her face.

 

"Tell me what happened," Aura said as she grabbed her dressing robe and followed Minerva out in to the hospital dorm, forgetting her nightmare for the moment. Harry was still lying asleep in his bed.

 

"What happened?" Aura heard Poppy ask Dumbledore.

 

They were standing over what looked like a statue. A small, blonde boy holding a large muggle camera, his face hidden behind it as if he were trying to take a picture. Aura recognized him as the boy who followed her daughter around.

 

"Another attack." Dumbledore said softly, "Minerva found him on the stairs."

 

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," Minerva whispered, "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

 

"Petrified?" asked Poppy.

 

"Yes," said Minerva weakly, "But I shudder to think- If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate, who knows what might have -"

 

As they stared down at the fragile-looking boy, Dumbledore leaned down and pried the camera from the small fingers.

 

"Do you think he got a picture of his attacker?" Aura said eagerly.

Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.

 

"Good gracious!" Poppy gasped.

 

A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. The air around them became thick with the smell of burnt plastic.

 

"Melted," said Poppy wonderingly. "All melted..."

 

"What does this mean, Albus?" Minerva asked urgently.

 

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."

 

Poppy clapped a hand to her mouth. Minerva and Aura stared at Dumbledore.

 

"But, Albus," Minerva said disbelievingly, "surely- who?"

 

"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes back on Colin. "The question is, how."

 

-X-X-X-

 

Sunday morning Felis woke to find Ginny still fast asleep in her bunk. Her eyes had dark bags under them and she made a mental note to ask her if she was all right. She dressed in comfortable jeans and a sweater and made her way down the stairs to the common room. Hermione was in front of the fire with a book, as usual. Ron must have still been asleep. Felis sat down beside Hermione as she closed her book.

 

"Harry not back yet?" Felis asked.

 

Hermione shook her head, "I hope his arm is okay."

 

"I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will get him back in order."

 

"What about your mother?" Hermione asked hesitantly, "Is she a good healer?"

 

Felis shrugged, "Dunno. Never even knew she'd done Healer training until Dumbledore came to our house. I have seen her heal a few cuts and scrapes, though."

 

Hermione looked at Felis curiously, "It's a bit strange isn't it? That you don't know anything about your parents?"

 

"It's not that different from Harry's situation, really."

 

"Yeah but his parents are dead. And not that many people are around now who even knew them, aside from some of the teachers, and your mother, but she won't tell you anything."

 

"I know, Hermione," Felis said, rather frustrated, "I don't know why she won't tell me! I'm so fed up with her secrets."

 

Hermione flushed red, "Sorry. I'm sure you'll find out some day."

 

Thankfully their awkward conversation ended as Ron, still yawning, appeared in the common room.

 

"I'm starving, let's go eat," he mumbled.

 

Breakfast was uneventful, aside from Seamus blowing something up. However they couldn't help but notice that the teachers were looking quite worried and kept poking their heads around corners to watch the students. Felis didn't think she'd ever seen this many teachers patrolling the halls before.

 

As they left the Great Hall, planning on heading up to the Hospital Wing to see Harry, they overheard Professor McGonagall whispering to Professor Flitwick.

 

"There's been another attack, Filius."

 

"Who?" Professor Flitwick's squeaking voice responded.

 

"A first year of my own House, Colin Creevey."

 

Felis' stomach jumped up in to her throat and before Ron or Hermione could say anything she bolted up the stairs. She didn’t stop running until she’d reached the Hospital Wing. She been praying she’d heard wrong, but there he was, lying stiff as a board on a bed, surrounded by curtains. His hands were up in front of him as if he’d been about to take a picture. Felis didn’t realize her mother had come up behind her, not until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

 

“I’m sorry, dear,” Aura whispered, “Were you close?”

 

Felis wiped her nose on the sleeve of her robe and huffed, “He was annoying.”

 

Aura smiled, then sighed sadly, “It’ll be all right. Dumbledore will figure this out.”

 

“What’s going on mum?” Felis cried, throwing her arms around her mother’s neck.

 

Aura didn’t answer. There wasn’t anything she could say to make the situation any better.

 

-X-X-X-

 

Aura stood in Dumbledore's office, surrounded by his dancing and twirling, silver trinkets. She stroked Fawkes' head as she waited for the Headmaster to join her. When he entered the room Aura could tell that he wasn't sleeping well, and was very worried. He should be, she knew about the Chamber of Secrets and about what happened the last time it was opened. Voldemort had told her all about it.

 

He had enjoyed bragging to her during her time as his hostage. Aura never quite figured out why though. She wasn't sure if it was because he just enjoyed reliving his various evil endeavours; or perhaps he had truly thought that it would impress her. Either way, he'd told her of almost everything that he'd ever done to anyone; every person he killed or tortured, he told Aura.

 

Dumbledore took a seat at his desk, sighing heavily, "What are we going to do?"

 

"He can't be here, can he?" Aura asked, worriedly.

 

"I don't see how."

 

"But you said that he was here last year. Clinging to the body of a Professor."

 

"Yes, but I do not believe he would try that again."

 

Aura moved closer towards his desk and laid her hands out on it.

 

"What if it's her?" she sobbed lightly.

 

Dumbledore stood and came quickly to Aura's side, taking her hands in his.

 

"I do not believe for one second that Felis is even slightly capable of such acts."

 

"But what if she doesn't know she's doing it? She might have his blood, Albus."

 

"I am not convinced of that. And I will not believe it."

 

"I dreamt last night, of the day she was born," Aura wiped her eyes, "It was just how I remember, everything was exactly the same. But when Narcissa handed Felis to me, it wasn't Felis. It was him. What if he did something to her?"

 

"I think we would have known a long time ago if he'd done anything to your sweet girl. Please rid your mind of these fears."

 

-X-X-X-

 

The following months continued on. The grounds grew colder, the days shorter. All the students were frightened, especially the First Years, most of them wouldn’t go anywhere alone. Ginny was the worst of all. She cried all the time, especially when Fred and George tried to cheer her up by covering themselves in boils and fur and jumping out from behind statues. They'd only quit when Percy had threatened to write to their mother. Trades began between all the students for magical talismans, amulets, and various other protective devices.

 

Christmas grew nearer and nearer; and as much as Felis wanted to help out, Ron, Harry, and Hermione refused to allow her to participate in the brewing of the Polyjuice potion. They kept her appraised if they heard of anything, which wasn’t much. No one else was petrified and Felis took to sticking around the common room more often than not. If she wasn’t in the common room then she was at Colin’s bedside.

 

Halfway through December it was announced there was to be a dueling club. It was to teach the students how to defend themselves, which should have frightened them in all reality, rather it brought some excitement into the students lives. So Felis went, for curiosity’s sake. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already there.

 

The Great Hall had been transformed. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

 

Felis could see her mother standing to the side, next to a table with a few potions. Probably just in case someone hurt themselves. Her mother didn't look all that well and Felis had a moment of guilt as she realized she'd made no effort to talk to her mother at all since she'd arrived at Hogwarts.

 

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him."

 

"As long as it's not -" Harry began, but he ended on a groan.

 

Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.

 

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called out, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!

 

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I myself have done on countless occasions," he flashed a toothy smile, "for full details, see my published works.

 

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape, he tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

 

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered and Felis giggled.

 

Snape's upper lip was curling. Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

 

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

 

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.

 

"One - two - three -"

 

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.

 

Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was dancing on tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

 

"Who cares?" said Harry, Ron, and Felis together.

 

Felis noticed her mother didn't even bother to check if he was okay. Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

 

"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see -"

 

Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"

 

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Ron first.

 

"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter -"

 

Harry moved automatically toward Hermione.

 

"I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode. Miss Malfoy, you're far too young to duel, get out of here."

 

Felis had it in her mind to curse Snape but she decided instead to stand by the wall where she could see both Harry and Draco, and Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode. She was so large she made Hermione's hair even look small.

 

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"

 

Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.

 

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents. One... two... three -"


	9. Chapter Nine

Aura stood to the side of the Great Hall, watching as the two men attempted to teach the group to duel. She rolled her eyes as Gilderoy flew across the room. Served him right, she thought. She could have taught that club, better than both Severus and Gilderoy combined. But Aura hated being the centre of attention now.

She watched as the students were separated in to pairs and silently thanked Snape for sending Felis off, she really was too young to be duelling. Harry and Draco were paired together, and Aura pulled her wand from her robes, just in case.

“Wands at the ready!” Gilderoy shouted, “When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents – only to disarm them – we don’t want any accidents. One... two... three –“

Harry swung his wand high, but Draco had already started on “two”. His spell hit Harry so hard he stumbled. Without hesitation Harry rebuked, pointed his wand straight at Draco and shouted, “Rictusempra!”

A jet of silver light hit Draco in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing.

“I said disarm only!” Gilderoy shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, as Draco sank to his knees; Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing. Gasping for breath, Draco pointed his wand at Harry’s knees, choked “Tarantallegra!” and the next second Harry’s legs began to to jerk around out of hs control in a kind of quickstep.

“Stop!” Stop!” screamed Gilderoy.

Aura finally decided she’d had enough. Gilderoy was flailing his arms around like a mad man, and Harry and Draco weren’t the only students using the opportunity to use spells they wouldn’t otherwise be able to use on each other.

She strode into the midst of the students, raised her wand in the air and yelled, “Finite Incantatem!”

The room went silent. A haze of green smoke hung over the scene. Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchley were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up Seamus Finnigan, apologizing. Only Hermione and Millicent were still moving. Millicent had Hermione in a headlock, and Hermione was whimpering in pain.

Aura grabbed the back of Millicent’s robes and yanked her away from Hermione, putting herself between the two girls. She stared hard at Lockhart.

“You have one more chance, Gilderoy, to properly teach these students. Or I will cancel it.”

“Dear, dear,” Gilderoy murmured, skittering through the crowd. “Up you go, Macmillan. Careful there, Miss Fawcett. Pinch it hard, it’ll stop bleeding in a second, Boot.”

He came to a stop, looking very bewildered, “I think I’d better teach you how to block unfriendly spells, “Let’s have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you –“

“A bad idea, Professor Lockhart,” Snape sneered, gliding over, “Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We’ll be sending what’s left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox.”

Neville’s round face flushed aa bright red.

“How about Malfoy and Potter?”

“Excellent idea!” Gilderoy gestured Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crows backed away to give them room.

“Now, Harry,” said Gilderoy, “When Draco points his wand at you, you do this.”

He raised his own wand, did some sort of jumbled wiggling action, and dropped it. Aura rolled her eyes again and Severus smirked as he quickly picked it up. “Whoops, my wand is a little overexcited.”

Severus whispered something to Malfoy, and they each smirked. Harry and Draco were looking at each other with hate in their eyes. Aura didn’t like this at all. Something bag was going to happen. She had a knack for sensing these things.

Gilderoy cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder, “Just do what I did, Harry!”

“What, drop my wand?”

Aura laughed but clearly Gilderoy hadn’t been listening.

“Three – two – one – go!” he shouted.

Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, “Serpensortia!”

The end of his wand exploded. Aura wanted to scream at the sight of the long black snake that shot out of the end of the wand. It looked exactly like the snake from her nightmare. It fell heavily on the floor between Harry and Draco, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

“Don’t move, Potter,” Severus said lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with an angry snake. “I’ll get rid of it.”

“Allow me!” Gilderoy shouted.

He brandished his wand at the snake. There was a loud bang and the snake flew straight up into the air, falling back down with a loud smack. Angrier, the snake hissed, slithering directly towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, exposing its fangs, ready to strike.

Fear coursed through Aura’s body as a hissing sound echoed through the room. It hadn’t come from the snake. She recognized it immediately for what it was, she’d heard it so many times before, when Voldemort had whispered in her ear.

Harry was advancing on the snake, the ancient language of Parseltongue flowing from his mouth. And then Aura heard the second voice and she began to cry. Felis was moving towards Harry and the snake, talking in the same ancient, hissing language.

The snake lowered its head and turned to stare at Harry and Felis, no longer interested in Justin, and seemingly no longer angry. They looked at each other curiously before smiling at Justin, whose face was red with anger.

“What do you think you’re playing at?” he shouted before storming out of the hall.

Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. The student muttered to themselves, staring at Harry and Felis. Aura tried to get to them but Ron and Hermione had already grabbed them and ushered them out of the Great Hall.

-X-X-X-

Ron and Hermione dragged Felis and Harry all the way until they reached the Gryffindor common room where they were pushed unceremoniously down on to the sofa.

Ron yelled, “You’re a Parselmouth. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“A what?” Harry and Felis asked together.

“A Parselmouth! You can talk to snakes!”

Felis wasn’t entirely sure what had even happened back there. One moment she was looking at the snake, just as frightened as everyone, and then she’d felt she’d had to go and talk to it, just as Harry was doing.

“I know,” said Harry, “I mean, that’s only the second time I’ve ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once – long story – but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to. That was before I knew I was a wizard –“

“A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?” Ron repeated faintly.

“So?” said Harry. “I bet load of people here can do it. Felis can.”

Felis nodded in agreement.

“Oh, no they can’t,” said Ron. “It’s not a very common gift. It’s extremely rare for one person, let alone two. This is bad.”

“What's bad?” Felis huffed.

Harry continued, “What’s wrong with everyone? Listen, if we hadn’t told that snake not to attack Justin –“

“Oh, that’s what you said to it?”

“What do you mean? You were there – you heard me –“

“I heard you speaking Parseltongue,” said Ron, “Snake language. You could have been saying anything – no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded ike you were egging the snake on or something – it was creepy, you know –“

Harry and Felis sat there with their mouths open. Felis could have sworn she’s been speaking normally in the Great Hall. How could she speak another language and not know about it?

“I spoke a different language?” Harry asked, “But – I didn’t realize – How can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?”

Ron and Hermione shook their hoods, looking as though someone had died.

“I still don’t understand what’s so bad about it,” Felis asked.

“Yeah, s’you want to tell me what’s wrong with stopping a massive snake from biting off Justin’s head?” Harry said, “What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn’t have to join the Headless Hunt?

“It matters,” Hermione finally spoke, “Because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That’s why the symbol of  Slytherin house in a serpent.”

Harry’s mouth fell open. Felis dropped her head into her hands.

“Exactly,” said Ron, “And now the whole school’s going to think you’re his great-great-great-great-grandkids or something-”

“But I’m not,” said Harry, panicked.

“You’ll find that hard to prove,” said Hermione. “He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be.”

-X-X-X-

By the next day, everyone in the school had heard about the incident and were avoiding Harry and Felis. Harry had it a little bit worse due to his reputation, but Felis had the Malfoy name, which seemed to reinforce it for some people. She desperately wanted to talk to her mother now, in hopes that perhaps this time her mother would tell her who she was.

Since Herbology was cancelled for the day, Harry, having the morning off went in search of Justin, hoping to apologize and explain. Felis asked him to apologize for her and went in search of her mother before her Charms lesson. She had just reached the entrance to the Hospital Wing when she stopped suddenly, hearing hushed voices just on the other side of the door.

“Oh, Albus, how did this happen?” she heard her mother’s voice, thick fear and sadness, muffled through the door.

“It doesn't mean anything,” Professor Dumbledore’s voice responded in a slightly angry tone, “You know as well as I do that somewhere along the line your family, as well as your husband’s family, have ties to Slytherin.”

Husband?! Her mother was married? To who? And when? Where is he?

“That would be a damned strong coincidence, and you know that.”

“Nevertheless, we can’t know for sure. As I have said before, I do not believe she is His daughter, nor do I believe she is the Heir of Slytherin.”

-X-X-X-

Felis wasn’t sure whether she wanted to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione about what she’d heard. She wasn’t even sure what she’d heard. She hadn’t been able to concentrate one but in Chars class; and had been even more disappointed when Ginny had sat as far away from her as possible. It had sounded as if her mother had though that she was the heir. But how her own mother think that? What had happened in her past that could have her mother so frightened?

Felis meandered slowly through the halls after Charms, still thinking about who she was, and who her mother was. Her next class was supposed to be Herbology, so she had a break anyway. Felis turned a corner, and not watching where was going, bumped into something rather large. She looked up to see Hagrid standing in the hallway, wearing a snow-covered balaclava, and holding a chicken. He looked rather surprised to see her.

“You know, you and Harry need to start looking where you’re going,” Hagrid said gruffly, “Y’all righ’, Felis?”

“Fine,” Felis murmured, “Did you say Harry was just here?”

“Yeah, he didn’t look so hot, neither. Went that way.”

Hagrid pointed towards a set of stairs leading up. Felis took off in that direction, hoping to catch up to Harry. If there was anyone in the world who might understand what she was going through, it would be Harry. Felis ran up the stairs, and down the adjacent hallway. She stopped only when she turned the corner to find Harry sprawled on the ground. Beside him was Justin, white and solid as a board. Next to Justin was the floating figure of Nearly Headless Nick, only Nick was now a smoky black instead of a translucent white. Nick’s head was flopped over, held on only by the bit of skin left.

Harry’s eyes were wide with terror. He glanced at Felis and then scrambled to his feet. They could both hear the classes on either side of them, beginning to end. They looked at each other and both knew they shouldn’t be there. They had to tell someone, but who would believe it wasn’t them?

Unfortunately for them, Peeves came floating around a corner. Having not yet noticed the bodies he was still bouncing around in the air.

“Why, it’s potty wee Potter!” cackled Peeves, knocking Harry’s glasses askew as he bounced past him. “What Potter up to? Why’s Potter lurking -”

Peeves stopped, halfway through a mid air somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nick. He flipped back up and screamed, “Attack! Attack! Another attack! No mortal or ghost is safe! Run for your lives! Attaaaaack!”

Banging echoed through the hall as door after door opened, people flooding out. Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class. She ordered everyone back into their classrooms. Once the hall had been cleared Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff came running, panting. He pointed his finger dramatically at Harry and Felis.

“Caught in the act!” he yelled.

“That will do, Macmillan!” McGonagall said sharply.

Peeves was bobbing overhead, grinning wickedly and as the professors examined the bodies he began to sing, “Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done, you’re killing off students, you think it’s god fun!”

“That’s enough Peeves!” barked Professor McGonagall.   
  
-X-X-X-   
  
Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This left Professor McGonagall alone with Felis and Harry.   
  
"This way," she said, and she begin to walk down the hall.   
  
"Professor," said Harry at once, "I swear I didn't- We didn't-"   
  
"This is out of my hands, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly.   
  
They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.   
  
"Lemon drop!" she said.   
  
This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Felis couldn't fail to be amazed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward. As they stepped onto it, the wall closed behind them with a thud. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, they stopped at a gleaming oak door, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.   
  
Dumbledore's office, Felis thought and she and Harry shared a frightened look.


	10. Chapter Ten

They stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and Professor McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered. Professor McGonagall told Harry and Felis to wait and left them there.

One thing was certain: of all the teachers' offices she had visited so far this year, Dumbledore's was by far the most interesting. If she hadn't been scared out of her wits that she was about to be thrown out of school, she would have been very pleased to have a chance to look around it.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.

Felis and Harry separated as Felis glanced at the books and poked the little silver trinkets. When she turned back around she found Harry standing behind Dumbledore’s desk, the sorting hat on his head. It was so large it hung over his eyes. Felis watched as Harry listened and then he angrily tore off the hat and shoved it back on to the dusty shelf.

"You're wrong," he said aloud to the still and silent hat. It didn't move. Harry backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind them made them whirl around.

They weren't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey. Felis and Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its gagging noise again. Felis thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull and, even as they watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail. Then, all of a sudden, the bird burst into flames.

Felis heard Harry yell in shock but she was approaching the bird, too caught up in the transformation to look away, or to explain. She’d always wanted to see a Phoenix, but they were so rare she never thought she’d have the chance.   
The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very sombre.

"Professor," Harry gasped. "Your bird - I couldn't do anything - he just caught fire -"

Dumbledore smiled and Felis giggled. 

"About time, too," he said. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been telling him to get a move on."

Dumbledore chuckled at the look of astonishment on Harry’s face. 

"Fawkes is a phoenix. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him . . ."

Felis looked down excitedly, as a tiny, very wrinkly, newborn bird poked its head out of the ashes. It wasn't much of an improvement on the old one.

"It's a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore, seating himself behind his desk. "He's really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets."

In the shock of Fawkes catching fire, Felis had forgotten what they were there for, but it all came back as Dumbledore settled himself in the high chair behind the desk and fixed them with his penetrating, light-blue stare.

Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with a bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.

"It wasn' Harry, Professor Dumbledore! Nor Felis!" said Hagrid urgently. "I was talkin' ter them seconds before that kid was found, they never had time, sir - "

Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere.

"- it can't've bin them, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to -"

"Hagrid, I -"

"- yeh've got the wrong ones, sir, I know Harry never -"

"Hagrid!" said Dumbledore loudly. "I do not think that Harry or Felis attacked those people."

"Oh," said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster."

And he stomped out looking embarrassed.

"You don't think it was us, Professor?" Felis repeated hopefully as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.

"No, Felis, I don't," said Dumbledore, though his face was sombre again. "But I still want to talk to the both of you."

Felis waited nervously while Dumbledore considered them, the tips of his long fingers together.

"I must ask you, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me," he said gently. "Anything at all."

Both Harry and Felis stood thinking for a moment. Felis wanted to tell Dumbledore everything. About the voice she and Harry heard, about the threat Malfoy made and their suspicions that he was the heir. She even wanted to tell him about the Polyjuice Potion. But before she could say anything, Harry beat her to it.

"No," said Harry. "There isn't anything, Professor."  
Felis and Harry left a moment later, walking in silence until they'd gotten out at the bottom past the gargoyle.

"Why didn't you tell him, Harry?"

"Tell him about what? The fact that we hear a voice, and that we think it's the attacker, but we don't know for sure? Or that we think it's Malfoy, based on the fact that we don't like him, but have no proof, so we've been brewing a highly illegal potion in a girl's bathroom to find out?"

"Yeah."

"Look, Felis, I tried to tell everyone last year that something bad was going on. No one believed me then, why would they believe me now?"

"I believe you."

"You don't have much of a choice, you're hearing the same thing that I'm hearing."

"Dumbledore would believe you. I'm sure of it."

"Or he'll think I'm off my knocker-"

"He's not like that."

"How do you know?"

"I overheard him and my mum talking about me."

Felis told Harry everything she'd heard. He was just as confused as she was, but it felt good to talk to someone about it, especially someone who understood a little bit of what she was going through.

They continued to walk in silence afterwards, taking their time to return to the common room. The common room hadn't been a very welcoming place lately, anyway.

"So, what were you doing with the Sorting Hat?" Felis asked hesitantly.

Harry was quiet and Felis assumed he wouldn’t answer until he sighed heavily, “When I got sorted, the hat said it wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I asked it not to. I wanted to know why it thought that.”

“It wanted to put me in Slytherin, too.”

"Yeah, but at least with you, your family has a history in Slytherin. I still don't understand why it would want to put me there. Both my parents were in Gryffindor, not Slytherin."

"Well, I’m glad we didn’t get put into Slytherin.”

"Me too," Harry smiled lightly.

-X-X-X-

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had previously been nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost? people asked each other; what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead? There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas.

"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told Harry, Hermione, and Felis. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be."  
Crabbe and Goyle, who always did whatever Malfoy did, had signed up to stay over the holidays, too. But Felis was glad that most people were leaving. She was tired of watching people skirting around Harry in the corridors, as though he were about to sprout fangs or spit poison; tired of all the muttering, pointing, and hissing as they passed.

Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through."

Percy was deeply disapproving of this behaviour.

"It is not a laughing matter," he said coldly.

"Oh, get out of the way, Percy," said Fred. "Harry's in a hurry."

"Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," said George, chortling.

Ginny didn't find it amusing either, the whole situation had her on edge constantly.

"Oh, don't," she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he was planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic when they met.

Harry didn't seem to mind much; it was nice to have someone around who didn't take the accusations against Harry seriously. They made Felis laugh at least. Felis, Hermione, Ron, and Harry did notice however that it made Malfoy extremely angry every time he saw this.

"It's because he's bursting to say it's really him," said Ron knowingly. "You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're getting all the credit for his dirty work."

"Not for long," said Hermione in a satisfied tone. "The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day now."

At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Felis found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that she, Hermione, Harry, and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice dueling in private. Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behaviour, didn't spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had already told them pompously that he was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a prefect to support the teachers during this troubled time.  
Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Felis slipped out of bed, Ginny still fast asleep, and found Hermione coming back through the portrait. She smiled excitedly.

"It's finished."

They quickly grabbed each other's presents and ran up the stairs to Harry and Ron's room.

"Wake up," Hermione said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window.

"Hermione - you're not supposed to be in here -" said Ron, shielding his eyes against the light.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," said Hermione, throwing him his present. "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion. It's ready."

Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," said Hermione, shifting Scabbers the rat so that she could sit down on the end of Ron's four-poster. "If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight."

At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak.

"Hello," said Harry happily as she landed on his bed. "Are you speaking to me again?"

She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way. Harry groaned when he saw the package. It was from his aunt and uncle. They had sent him a toothpick and a note telling him to find out whether he'd be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer vacation, too.

-X-X-X-

The Great Hall looked magnificent that night for Christmas dinner. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favourite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggering at.

Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpings of Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening.

Felis hopped up to join them but as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall they blocked her exit. 

“Look, Felis,” Harry murmured, “we don’t think you should come.”

“What? Why?” She gasped. 

“It’s too dangerous,” Hermione said. 

“And we don’t want to get you into trouble. Everyone already expects it of us.”

“And your mum is kinda scary,” Ron gulped. 

“We’ll tell you everything we find out later, promise.”

And with that the three of them ran off, leaving Felis gaping and feeling rather put out.


	11. Chapter 11

Felis didn’t see Ron, Harry, or Hermione at breakfast the next morning. She didn’t know anything had gone wrong until her mother had come to ask her if she’d gone to see Hermione in the Hospital Wing yet. Her stomach flipped as she raced to be at Hermione’s side, certain that she’d been petrified just like Colin. She found Hermione very much un-petrified, looking very much like a cat, and Harry and Ron snickering at her bedside. She rushed forward.

“Hiya, Felis!” Ron and Harry greeted her cheerily.

She responded by smacking them both with her textbooks.

“You asses! I had to find out from my mother that Hermione was even here!”

“Sorry,” they mumbled, rubbing their hands up and down their arms.

Felis looked at them all expectantly, when they didn’t give her any information about the previous night she huffed and rolled her eyes, “Well, how did it go?”

“Oh!” Harry exclaimed, “Not well. Looks like Draco’s not the heir.”

“Great. So we still have no idea what’s going on.”

To their credit, Ron and Harry did look just as disappointed as she felt.

The Christmas holidays ended, bringing back all the students, and with them the rumors of what had happened to Hermione. Madame Pomfrey had to set up curtains around her bed because everyone kept filing past the Hospital Wing, trying to catch a glimpse of her whiskers. Felis went to the Hospital Wing every day to visit Hermione and Colin. Ron and Harry went to see Hermione too but they never told her when they were going. Hermione was always doing her school work and so Felis spent most of her time at Colin’s bedside.

It was strange seeing Colin like that, completely unchanged. Felis wished he was there to pester her with questions. She whispered everything to him, from the mundane trivialities of classes and homework, to her insecurities about the mystery behind who she really was. She told him about what she’d heard her mother tell Dumbledore and how she wasn’t sure anymore if she should trust her mother or not. 

It was the quietest Colin had ever been and she wished desperately that he would wake up suddenly so that they could figure it out together. Ginny was no help lately, she’d completely ignored Felis over the Christmas holiday.

Felis was beginning to feel that her mother had it right for all those years, hiding away in their little cottage. There were no mystery monsters lurking around the corners to petrify students, there were no friends to ignore her.

-X-X-X-

Aura couldn't help but smirk at the sight of Hermione lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing, completely covered in cat hair, with ears and a tail. It was a funny sight to see, but she hated to think about why it had most likely happened. She was sure it had to be Polyjuice, the effects were lasting too long for a charm; but of course, Ron and Harry would not budge on their account of the tale.

Polyjuice was extremely hard to brew, and the ingredients hard to come by. Severus would not likely have given them to these four specific students, either. Aura walked over to Hermione's bed with her evening medicine. Hermione was doing her homework, quite meticulously, Aura noted, and not without a bit of enthusiasm. She hadn't seen anyone that eager to learn in a long time.

"Miss Granger, time for a break." Aura ordered as she held out the potion to the girl. The cat hair was beginning to thin, but she still had quite a few weeks to go before she would be completely back to normal.

"Thank you, Miss Aura." Hermione said politely.

She paused only long enough to swallow the concoction before going back to her homework. Aura smiled warmly.

"You know, Lily used to get that same look on her face when she was studying."

Hermione looked up suddenly, her yellow cat's eyes wide.

"She did?"

Aura nodded her head, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed, the chair that Felis often occupied when she came to visit Hermione.

"Yes, she was very smart. We both were, but she had an enthusiasm that I never had. And she was so kind, the nicest person any one had ever met; and extremely loyal," Aura smiled again, feeling her eyes moisten, "Harry reminds me of her, a lot, and James. And I'm grateful you've become friends with Felis."

"You miss them?"

"Oh, more than I hope you'll ever know."

"Do you know what happened that night that they died? Do you know why Harry lived?"

"I'm sorry, I don't. I wasn't," Aura paused, looking for the right words, "I wasn't around, when it happened."

"You were captured by You-Know-Who, weren't you?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Aura said, surprised, "How do you-"

"Neville's grandmother told him that. And he told us."

"So Felis knows that when they found me at the Lestrange's, they found her as well?"

Hermione nodded. Aura sighed. She knew it would happen eventually, she had just hoped that it wouldn't have been so soon. She got to her feet, told Hermione to sleep well, and then started to walk back to the office.

“Why won't you tell her?"

Aura turned to look at Hermione. She was so young, and so innocent, like Felis.

"Because she doesn't want to know. Not really."

X-X-X-

It was some weeks later that Felis spoke to Harry and Ron again. She was in the Common Room, finishing up an assignment for Herbology when they came bursting through the portrait door. They always did that, entered the Common Room as if they were the only ones who ever used it. They were talking about Moaning Myrtle, and about an old book. They didn’t even notice Felis until she cleared her throat. They spun around almost comically, sighing in relief when they realized it was her.

“What’s this you’ve found?”

“We just found this in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. She said someone threw it at her.”

Felis scrunched her face up, “Why would someone throw a book?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe Hermione knows a spell that’ll help.”

“Well, she should be getting out any day now.”

Felis was hoping that Harry and Ron would fill her in on what they knew of the book. Instead they continued to keep it a secret. And honestly, Felis was getting a bit tired of chasing after them. She just wanted this year to be over. No other students had been petrified since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and she hoped that it would just fade away, Madame Pomfrey would un-petrify them, and everything would go back to normal. Whatever normal was. Something told Felis that life would never be normal again, not at Hogwarts.

-X-X-X-

Felis didn’t want to chase Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Really. But when she saw the three of them huddled together in front of the trophy room one day she had to know. Curiosity got the better of her, and she wanted to get revenge for Colin. Somehow.

“Hey!” Felis called in to the trophy room, “What’s going on?”

Ron huffed, “Harry wants to see Riddle’s trophy.”

“Who’s Riddle?”

“The boy who once owned that diary,” Hermione answered, “It’s fifty years old, you know.”

Felis and Hermione shared a look. That was interesting. A blank diary just happens to get throw at Moaning Myrtle that’s from the same year the Chamber was last opened. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Ron pointed out Riddle’s trophy easily.

Riddle's burnished gold shield was tucked away in a corner cabinet. It didn't carry details of why it had been given to him. However, they did find Riddle's name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on a list of old Head Boys.

"He sounds like Percy," said Ron, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Prefect, Head Boy, probably top of every class -"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Hermione in a slightly hurt voice.

Felis wandered around the room absentmindedly, every once in a while taking a glance at a medal or a trophy, passing over names she didn't recognize. Until she saw one that she did. Her mother's. It was an entire case full of medals, all with the name Aura Malfoy engraved on them. Awards for top marks in Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, even Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Study of Ancient Runes.

"What's all this?" Harry asked as he appeared by her side.

"It's my mother," Felis said softly, "Look, she even has a dueling trophy!"

Hermione joined them, reading off of another medal, "Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting. She has just as many awards as Dumbledore did! And look Harry, your mother is here too!"

Sure enough, beside her mother's award case was a case filled with medals all bearing the name Lily Evans. Along with multiple academic awards were two medals stating that Lily had been Prefect and then Head Girl.

-X-X-X-

The weather outside began to light, and with it the mood began to grow more hopeful inside the castle. Madam Pomfrey reported that the Mandrakes were coming along just fine, entering adolescence. It wouldn’t be long until they were ready to be stewed. Of course Peeves still floated about the castle, singing about Harry and dancing.

Felis had never really thought about Valentine's Day. It had only ever been her and her mother so there hadn't been much of a reason to celebrate. She'd also never realized how popular it might be until she walked in to the Great Hall on February the 14th to find the walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Felis went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting looking sickened, and Hermione seemed to have been overcome with giggles. She gave Harry a confused look and he simply pointed towards the teachers' table.

Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced, especially her mother. From where she sat, Felis could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!"

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps. Felis couldn't help but burst in to laughter.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands. Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.

"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six," said Ron as they left the Great Hall later for their first lesson.

Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule and didn't answer. All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers.

Late that afternoon, Felis was standing in line outside their class, waiting to get in, when the second years went past to get to their Charms lesson.

"Oy, you! 'Arty Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.

Harry's face went bright red before he attempted to back track and avoid the grumpy little dwarf. The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people's shins, and reached him before he'd gone two paces.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.

"Not here," Harry hissed, trying to escape.

Felis began to giggle, until she caught sight of Ginny in the crowd, face just as red.

"Stay still!" grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry's bag and pulling him back.

"Let me go!" Harry snarled, tugging.

With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment, and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed over everything. Harry scrambled around, trying to pick it all up before the dwarf started singing, causing something of a holdup in the corridor.

"What's going on here?" came the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy. Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped bag, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical valentine.

"What's all this commotion?" said another familiar voice as Percy Weasley arrived.

Felis couldn't help but laugh again as Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.

"Right," he said, sitting on Harry's ankles. "Here is your singing valentine: His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, his hair is as dark as a blackboard.I wish he was mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord”

The hall erupted with laughter and this time Felis didn't have to try to hold back. Ginny's face was so bright and she looked like she was about to cry. Felis grabbed her hand in an attempt to comfort her but Ginny threw her hand away agnrily. Harry tried laughing it off as Percy did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.

"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now," he said, shooing some of the younger students away. "And you, Malfoy-"

Felis looked over at Draco to see him stoop and pick up Riddle's diary.

"Give that back," said Harry quietly.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy, who obviously hadn't noticed the year on the cover and thought he had Harry's own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

"Hand it over, Malfoy," said Percy sternly.

"When I've had a look," said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at Harry.

Percy said, "As a school prefect -" but Harry had lost his temper. He pulled out his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and just as Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting out of his hand into the air. Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.

"Harry!" said Percy loudly. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"

But Harry didn't seem to care as he stared at Draco. Draco was looking furious, and as Ginny passed him to enter the classroom, he yelled spitefully after her, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"

Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. Felis followed, taking her old seat next to Ginny.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Harry liked it."

Ginny cried even harder, "I doubt that! Oh, he hates me. He thinks I'm a freak."

Felis chuckled a little, "He does not think you're a freak. He's a freak, if there ever was one. He just thinks you're extremely shy. If you actually tried talking to him I'm sure he'd tell you your Valentine was lovely."

Ginny smiled weakly, "Thanks Felis. Sorry I've been so distant."

"It's okay." Felis smiled, just happy to have Ginny talk to her again.


End file.
